The Married at First Sight franchise would do well to include backup couples in future seasons. The popular Lifetime reality show premiered in 2014, and has 17 complete seasons behind it. Married at First Sight season 18 has already been filmed and will take place for the second time in Chicago. Season 18 will feature five new couples as they meet their future spouses at the altar for the first time sight unseen. The Married at First Sight couples are matched by a panel of expert therapists who not only choose the pairings but also guide the couples on their eight-week-long journeys.
Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Pastor Cal Roberson, and Dr. Pia Holec have been the experts the last three seasons. Dr. Pepper has been an expert since the beginning, while Pastor Cal joined in season 4, and Dr. Pia joined in season 15. Married at First Sight has been well-received by fans over time, although more complaints have been surfacing about the lack of successful matches and the experts’ inability to help the couples navigate troubled waters. With season 18 likely to premiere in the fall, the network should make a change to ensure that fans continue to be entertained, and more couples work out.
MAFS Has Not Had Much Success With Couples
In the 17 seasons of Married at First Sight, there have been 64 couples. Of those couples, only 12 of them are still together, making the show’s success rate only 18.75%. The poor success rate is due to unthoughtful pairings by the experts, who are supposed to take each cast member’s non-negotiables and physical appearance requirements into consideration. The couples that are still together are good examples of how the show can work and work well, but the vast amount of failed couples speaks louder at this point.
Throughout each season, when a couple calls it quits before Decision Day, the season moves on with the remaining couples. In seasons 1-7, only three couples were featured. Seasons 8 and 9 had four couples take the leap of the faith, and there have been five couples highlighted from season 10 on. The MAFS production teams find some of the participants via dating apps in the cities they take the experiment to, while others apply. The pool of applicants seems to be getting smaller, with more cast members being recruited.
MAFS Season 17’s Runaway Bride Was The Catalyst
In season 17, Michael Shiakallis was a hopeful groom excited about meeting his future wife. However, when his mystery bride met him at the altar, she said she wasn’t ready to marry a stranger and ditched Michael and the experience (via Lifetime.) Michael was devastated, and that made the season start out one couple down in a MAFS first. In another MAFS first, the experts asked Michael if he would be willing to be matched a second time, and when he obliged, he was paired and got married to Chloe Brown.
Michael and Chloe began their season when the other couples were already halfway through. By that time, Orion Martzloff and Lauren Goodger had gotten divorced and Clare Kerr and Cameron Frazer had separated. Only Becca Haley and Austin Reed and Emily Balch and Brennan Shoykhet were still together. However, both of those pairs separated before Decision Day also. Becca and Austin said yes to each other on Decision Day, but broke up the next day. From there, viewers still had to watch Michael and Chloe’s journey while follow-up episodes were filmed and shown of the other couples.
Chloe and Michael also ended in divorce. Because of the runaway bride and rematching, Married at First Sight season 17 ended up being the longest season in Married at First Sight history. The season began in mid-October 2023 and ran until late April 2024 including the Reunion episodes and “Where Are They Now” special. Fans were left watching couples that had already broken up, and the show lost a lot of entertainment value in the process.
Having backup couples to replace those who left broken up would have made the season so much better.
How Could Backup MAFS Couples Come Into Play?
Future seasons of Married at First Sight could be filmed having six or more couples, and if something disastrous happens like the runaway bride or honeymoon divorces, there would be more couples to highlight. Because MAFS season 17 only had five couples, and two of whom were over within a month, the season had to run unnecessary content featuring the broken up couples. Were the show to include backup couples, there would be more quality content to run for Married at First Sight viewers.
The season could also be filmed with more couples, and through editing, the show could take the high-value drama and leave out the filler.
More couples also means more opportunity for the couples to develop drama or create good moments between each other, that would also be fun to watch. Having more couples would mean more work for the experts, but the experts need to step up their matching and counseling abilities, and this could throw them in the deep end.
How MAFS Would Benefit From Having Backup Couples
By having backup couples, the Married at First Sight franchise would have a stronger chance at delivering couples who say yes to each other on Decision Day and stay together. The current number of couples that are featured is not working, and having more couples would mean a higher chance to provide viewers with the quality drama they want to see and the successful matches the show aims for. The show would benefit from having backup couples or more couples in general so that fans do not get bored by the dwindling number of couples each season.
The experts have had a long leash when it comes to keeping their jobs despite having poor matching success, and having more couples for them to match would put them to the test. If they fail, new experts could come in, because the show would need an obvious shakeup. Married at First Sight could have a bright and more positive future ahead were the franchise to add more couples.
